In one of the well-lit
corridors of the backstage area, a female figure in a tattered white tunic was
shown walking with her back to the camera. The unique thing about her was
that she had light purple skin, bat-like wings, and a tail. Her wings
were wrapped around her shoulders, making them look like a cape, and her long
brown hair flowed down her back.

“Who’s that?” King
inquired, obviously really wanting to know.

“Her name is Angela,”
Daisuke provided.

“Who?”

“She’s a gargoyle,
King,” Daisuke responded. “A member of the Manhattan Clan, if my sources
are correct.”

“Where do you and J.R.
get these ‘sources’?” King asked.

“That’s for us to
know,” Daisuke answered. “And you...to not.”

“Awww,” The King
whined. “Work with me, Daisuke.”

“Don’t you
start,” Daisuke snapped. “Anyway, gargoyles are a rare race of noble
warriors, living to protect the innocent and their home. Tonight a couple
members of the Manhattan Clan are serving as security tonight in this odd
environment, along with their human friend, NYPD detective, Elisa Maza.”

“I wonder how she feels
about inter-species dating,” King wondered.

“Don’t you ever stop?”
April demanded to know.

“Nope,” King responded
proudly.

“Hey Angela!” A
voice called from behind the female gargoyle.

“Yes?” Angela said as
she turned around, only to be punched in the face by a seven foot tall,
300-pound man with long dusty blond hair in black pants and a black and white
“nWo” T-shirt.

“What the hell?!?” J.R.
shouted in surprise. “Kevin Nash just attacked Angela! What in the
hell is he doing?!?”

J.R.’s unexpected, and
unwanted answer came when two more figures appeared on the scene. A sly
looking man with slicked back black hair tied back in a familiar pigtail style,
and a smaller man (Comparatively only. He is six damn feet tall!) with a
black goatee and straggly hair in a black bandanna, both dressed similarly to
Nash, attacked the slightly dazed gargoyle.

“And there’s Scott Hall
and X-Pac to complete this sick ambush by the nWo,” J.R. voiced his disdain for
the self-serving trio. “They have no business being in the building, let
alone attacking someone.”

“Maybe so J.R.,”
Hiroshi excitedly agreed. “But I don’t think even the nWo can take on a
gargoyle. Not without some kind of weapons at least.”

As if to prove
Hiroshi’s point, Angela pushed back all three of her attackers, unfurled her
wings, and unleashed her shrieking battle cry, her eyes glowing blood
red.

Hall, Nash, and X-Pac
seemed unaffected by Angela’s display, and smiled as they prepared to resume
their attack. This, of course, left her back wide open to be rushed by
two other hulking figures also wearing “nWo” T-shirts. The weird thing
about them was the fact that they where animals. Not figuratively, literally!
One had the head of a rhinoceros, the other had the head of a wild boar with a
purple Mohawk and sunglasses.

“It’s Bebop and
Rocksteady!” April gasped upon recognizing the mutated thugs. “What are
they doing
here?!?”

“Well, there would be
the ‘weapons’ Hiroshi was talking about,” Daisuke stated, strangely unfazed by
the amazing development.

“Oh my God!” J.R.
exclaimed. “The two mutants known as Bebop and Rocksteady, have
apparently joined the nWo, and are now helping them beat down a defenseless
Angela!”

“With claws like that,
I wouldn’t call her defenseless.” Daffy took notice of Angela’s natural
defenses. “Getting the crap beat out of her, maybe, but definitely not
defenseless.” Just as Daffy had said, Angela was indeed getting beat down
by the five strong men. Not once did she get a chance to fight
back.

When it seemed as if
they finally reached the point of “too far”, Scott Hall lead the way of taking
it even farther. After a devastating gut punch, he lifted her over his
head, and held her, back-to-back, with her arms held out in a semi-crucified
position.

“Oh No!” J.R.
shouted, dreading the conclusion of the devastating finishing move. “Not
the Razor’s Edge! This is sick!” Sure enough, it was Scott Hall’s
signature move “The Razor’s Edge”, and he completed it by slamming Angela to
the concrete ground, head first. With that done, Scott Hall started
taunting the female gargoyle, who responded by writhing in
pain.

“Hey guys,” Hall said
to his cohorts while holding a toothpick in between his vicious smile. “I
have an idea! Hold her!”

With that Nash and
Bebop each grabbed an arm and became the only thing holding the barely
conscious Angela vertical. Scott Hall draped an arm over Rocksteady’s
shoulder and whispered into his flapping ear as he led him down the
hallway.

Meanwhile, X-Pac took
the opportunity to take a few more cheap shots on the prone gargoyle, using his
limited martial arts skill to deliver kicks into Angela’s head and chest.

“This is just sick,”
J.R. continued to rant about the beating taking place, yet helpless to do
anything about it.

“What in the world
could the nWo have planned?” Hiroshi ranted along the same lines as J.R.
“What could they possibly gain by this heinous assault?”

Offering no answer to
Hiroshi’s question, X-Pac stopped kicking the unfortunate Angela only moments
before Rocksteady came charging down the hallway at full force. Angela
barely had the time, or strength, to lift her head and see the oncoming mutant
freight train.

“Oh God No!!!” Hiroshi
and J.R. shouted in unison as they sat witness to the charging force of carnage
heading towards the prone female gargoyle. “NO!!!”

Rocksteady hit Angela
full on tackling her to the ground and sending her into blissful
unconsciousness.

“WHY, DAMMIT?!?
WHY?!?” An appalled Jim Ross begged for an unseen answer to the hideous act
just committed by the five powerful thugs now laughing at the damage they’ve
done.

The other commentators
were too shocked to even offer a suggestion. Well, almost.

“I have no idea J.R.”
Daisuke responded, still able to remain calm. “I just hope they have a
plan for when Goliath finds out.”

Daisuke made reference
to Angela’s father, and leader of the Manhattan Clan, who is known to be very
protective of his daughter, very big, very, very strong, and liable to be come
very, very, VERY angry.

“Come on, guys,” Nash
said to his still laughing partners-in-crime. “We still have more
business to take care of...in the ring.”

And with that they
headed for the ring, a broken and unconscious female gargoyle left sprawled on
the ground.

* * * * *

“God dammit!” J.R.
swore. “What the hell could they possibly want out here?”

“Looks like we are,
sadly, about to find out,” Daisuke said.

“NEW-N-NEW-NEW-NEW WORLD ORDER!”

No sooner than Daisuke
finished his sentence, static disrupted the video feed and the world turned
black-and-white as the repetitive opening guitar strains of the New World Order
theme announced their arrival on the entrance
ramp.

“And now these bastards
have the audacity to come out here after what they’ve just done,” J.R. was just
as disgusted as the crowd, who loudly voiced their disapproval of the nWo’s
actions.

“After what they just
did,” Daffy said, minimally appalled, but greatly impressed by the nWo’s show
of strength. “I’m not going to be the one to tell them ‘No’.”

As they posed on the
entrance ramp, the vicious gang of fighters soaked up the audience’s hatred
like it was the golden rays of the sun. X-Pac was now carrying his pair
of black nunchakus. A fact that didn’t go unnoticed, but oddly,
uncommented on, by Miss O’Neil.

“And now, making their
way to the ring,” The blond ring announcer said, lacking in his usual enthusiasm.
“Being accompanied by Bebop and Rocksteady, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and X-Pac,
the New World Order.”

Now that the crowd knew
exactly who they were booing at, they had no problem doing so even louder as
the crew of thugs sauntered down the ramp. Rocksteady’s camouflaged army
pants where the only thing standing out from the others’ nWo “uniforms” (You
know, besides the fact he was part rhino).

Finally, when they
entered the ring, the static flashed and the world returned to normal
hues.

Unfortunately, the nWo
still remained, as big and as bad as ever. They called for a microphone
(Actually they just took the ring announcer’s and threw him out of the ring),
as Bebop and Rocksteady walked to the side of the ring and gave their “old friend”,
April, a friendly wave.

“Hey April!” Bebop
snorted as he waved to the news reporter. “Nice to see you again!”

“Yeah,” Rocksteady
snickered. “We look forward to working with you and your little green
pals!”

April merely slid down
in her seat, keeping an eye on her old enemies and wondering if her “green
pals” were going to make it out here before the two powerful mutants and their
new friends get violent again.

Then her attention was
drawn to Scott Hall, as he raised the mike to his mouth.

“We attacked her
because she was the first person we saw when we walked into the
building!” The 300-pound Kevin Nash continued. “We attacked Angela
and left her a broken mess simply because we could! And to send the
message that anyone of you pathetic losers in the back can be next!”

Kevin Nash then handed
the microphone to X-Pac. Immediately, chants of “X-Pac Sucks!” began in
the crowd.

The crowd cheered as
the two fan favorite fighters appeared on the nWo’s potential hit list.
X-Pac continued to list potential victims, while the crowd continued to cheer
their names in the hopes that some of them would come out and beat the living
hell out of the nWo monsters standing tall in the ring.

The entire nWo turned
to the entrance ramp as the opening to Jimi Hendrix’ “Voodoo Child” played
barely as loud as the fans cheered. Everyone knew exactly who was
interrupting the nWo’s tirade, and the crowd couldn’t be happier.

o/` Well, I Stand Up Next to a Mountain

And I Chop It Down With the Edge of My Hand

Well, I Stand Up Next to a Mountain

Chop it Down With the Edge of My Hand

Well, I Pick Up All the Pieces and Make an
Island

Might Even Raise a Little Sand o/`

“What the--?” Was all
Daffy could get out over the excited screams of both the crowd and Hiroshi.

The cheers grew even
louder as a huge man, colorfully dressed in red and yellow wrestling tights and
tank top, appeared at the top of the entrance ramp.

“It’s Hollywood Hulk
Hogan!” Good Ol’ Jim Ross cheered as the biggest name in professional wrestling
history stood at the top of the ramp, microphone in hand.

Before he spoke, Hogan
took a moment to pose for the thousands of “Hulkamaniacs” in attendance.

The man with bleached
blond hair covered by a red and yellow bandana, even played a little classic
air guitar in tune to his theme music as the audience cheered there hearts out
over his mere presence.

Hulk Hogan smiled
knowingly underneath his bleached blond handlebar mustache then raised the
microphone as the cheering crowd lowered to a dull roar.

“Well Brothers,” Hogan
began, looking down upon his former partners-in-crime standing in the
ring. “What you did tonight has got to be one of the lowest things I’ve
ever seen anybody do in my life.”

The assembled crowd
cheered in agreement.

“I mean,” Hogan
continued. “When I was in the nWo, sure, I did some crazy stuff, but that was
just plain mean.”

“What are you gonna do
about it, Old Man?” X-Pac shouted from the safety of the
ring.

“Well,” Hogan
said. “First, I’m gonna kick your ass, X-Punk. Then the millions of
Hulkamaniacs watching worldwide will see me do the same to Hall and Nash.”

The Shin nWo took only
a second to process this. Then they burst out laughing.

“Really?” Kevin Nash
asked after he took the mike from X-Pac. “What are you going to do to do
about our new pals, Rocksteady and Bebop?”

The two mutant
animal/human hybrids smiled and stepped forward at the mention of their names.

“Well, there’s not much
I can do,” The Immortal One confessed with a sly smile. “But that’s what
these guys are here for...Brother!”

With roaring battle
cries, two massive forms raced out of the entrance and down the ramp as soon as
The Hulkster finished his taunt, bat-like wings unfurled and eyes blazing
white.

“It’s Broadway and
Brooklyn!” Hiroshi screamed in excitement.

“Ow!” Daisuke
rubbed his ear closest to Hiroshi.

“More gargoyles from
Angela’s clan have come out to help Hogan take out the Shin nWo trash!”
J.R. cheered.

As the two gargoyles
and seasoned grappler charged the ring, the Shin nWo prepared for battle.

Except for Kevin
Nash.

The sly smile that
appeared on his face went completely unnoticed; as did the small electronic
device he pulled from his pocket. Nash pressed a button on the device and
a blue flash covered the ring.

“New name, new
members,” An angry J.R. noted. “But the same old bullying tactics!”

Hogan and the two
gargoyles stood in the ring for a few tense moments, until one of them
remembered more important matters.

“Angela!”
Broadway shouted, then leapt out of the ring and landed halfway up the ramp, in
a full sprint toward the back.

As Brooklyn and the
Hulkster watched Broadway disappear into the back, they suddenly found
themselves surrounded by a wildly cheering crowd. A fact that thoroughly
confused the brick colored gargoyle.

“Are they
cheering...for ME?”

“You bet man!”
Hogan responded proudly, as always feeling energized by the cheering of his
“Hulkamaniacs”. “When you fight on the side of righteousness, you always
get cheered for!”

“That hasn’t always
been my experience,” Brooklyn responded bitterly, but he had to admit, he was
receiving a lot of applause, and he was enjoying it. Brooklyn tentatively
raised his arm in victory, and the crowd’s cheering nearly doubled! “I
could get used to this.”

“Welcome to my world,
Brother!” With that, Brooklyn and the Immortal One began to flex and pose
for cheering fans.

“But we won’t have to
worry about the Shin nWo as long as we have the likes of the Gargoyles and
Hollywood Hulk Hogan!”

“Call me crazy,”
Daisuke pondered.

“You’re crazy,”
Hiroshi, King, and Daffy claimed in unison.

“I asked for that,”
Daisuke sighed. “Anyway, I don’t think guys like the ‘Shin’ nWo are going
to be that easy to scare off.”

_-_-_-_-_

Among the amazingly
bright showing of flashbulbs in the crowd, one shutterbug at least was working.

“Wow!” A young
man said from behind shuttering lens of a camera. “And here I thought
gargoyles were just for sitting on top of and sulking. These pictures of
real live gargoyles are going to make J.J.’s bad haircut stand on end!”

A sudden tingling in
the back of his head caused the freelance photographer to stop taking pictures
and search the crowd for signs of danger.

“Uh-oh Petey,” He said
to himself. “And here you thought this would be just another boring night
of madness, mayhem, and men in tights beating the stuffing out of each other
all in the name of good old family fun.”

His search for danger
came to an end just a few rows behind him. Two over-coated figures
clearly stood out from the crowd. Not only was it the odd amount of
covering in the adequately warmed arena, but their visible hands seemed to be
covered in golden armored claws, and one of them was aiming said claws at the
ring.

“Ahem,” One of the figures
with long brown hair coughed as he calmly reached over and lowered his
sibling’s arm with claws of his own. “Now-now, Sis. Patience.”

“Oh c’mon!” The
spiky brown haired woman with long sideburns argued. “You wanna kill them
just as much as I do.”

The red optic sensor
that replaced the male’s right eye began to release a furious glow.

“I know,” He
growled. “But we’re not here to kill them. Not yet anyway.
We’re waiting for the big one.”

“...Okay fine.”
The woman reluctantly agreed. She then proceeded to console herself by
imagining using the posing gargoyle and popular, yet aged, wrestler in the ring
for target practice.

_-_-_-_-_

By this time, the
freelance photographer from earlier had already left his seat and was searching
for a secluded place to change clothes, and identities.

“I knew I recognized
those two from television. The bathroom? Nah. If what I hear
about them is true, they’re here to cause trouble. Where’s a phone booth
when you need it? Thank you ‘Spider-sense’! Now where can
I--Ah-ha! Perfect!”